


Crossed Between Stars

by PinkRangerV



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Alternate Universe-BDSM, Canon Universe, Interdimensional wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, Multi, inspired by a Baby Kitty fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-03-01 09:38:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13292106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkRangerV/pseuds/PinkRangerV
Summary: Inspired by BabyKitty's BDSM AU, Tommy comes from his adopted home dimension to find the Dino Thunder Rangers. Dimensions collide; maybe that's a good thing. AU.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'd properly credit the fic I was inspired by, but Baby Kitty deleted it. I tried rewriting every so often, but it didn't really work out--then I got the idea to write a sequel. So you get this.
> 
> Edit: JESUS F*CKING CHRIST WHY DID I PUBLISH MY UNEDITED FIRST DRAFT.
> 
> Ahem. Anyway. Please enjoy the *actual* version, with a lot less 'lol tra la la what is plot' and a lot more actual sanity on my part.
> 
> Edit 2: ...No one's actually read the original on this thing, have they? Yeah, anyway, short version: Tommy is gay-bashed, he stumbles into a BDSM AU accidentally, everyone lives happily ever after. Cue my AU.

_BPR612—April 24, 2000_

“Happy birthday, love.” Jay murmured sleepily into Tommy’s shoulder.

                Tommy chuckled, low in his throat, almost purring as Jay pulled the covers over them. “Love you too.” He whispered back.

                Jay smiled into his skin, Tommy could feel it like a kiss, and then was quiet.

                Tommy relaxed, and tried to sleep. Tried. He really did.

                He could sense the Dino Gems calling him.

                Not exactly the way they would the genetic primaries, but demanding, still. Demanding enough so his eyes drifted open of their own accord, so he looked up at the ceiling and tried to keep his breath slow enough not to wake his Dominant.

                “Mmph.” Well, he’d never succeeded at hiding anything from Jay even when he was trying, why start now? “Whassit?”

                “You should probably wake up all the way.”

                “Ugh.” Jay grumbled. He was not much of a morning person. “Kay. I’m up.” He forced himself upright to show willing. “What is it?”

                Tommy got up. He didn’t bother putting shorts on, just turned to the nightstand and pulled out the trio of gems he’d found.

                “Remember that guy, Mercer?” Tommy started. Jay nodded; Tommy was a traveler between dimensions, and occasionally made friends on his trips. “He said these belonged to my homeworld.”

                “Shit.” Jay said eloquently.

                Tommy said nothing.

                “Tom, these are bad news.” Jay said, quietly, more soberly. “You can’t go back there—“

                “Because a couple bullies from high school are there?” Tommy said. “There’s a whole planet there, Jay. It’s not like I’m going to run into Max and his crew there—“

                “Because last time being gay there was such a problem a couple of _children_ beat and raped another one for it.” Jay said flatly. “And we have no indication anything’s changed.”

                Tommy took a breath. “Yes, we do.”

                Jay stayed quiet. Tommy tried to stifle the worry he always felt. That was a remnant of the abuses he’d suffered in his homeworld. Jay would never hurt him, or lash out. That was part of love.

                “Mercer took me there.” Tommy confessed.

                “Alone?” Jay demanded. “Jesus, Tom, you’re going to give me a heart attack.”

                Tommy winced. Jay was…scared. For him. “I’m sorry.” Tommy said, and meant it. “I just had to know _I_ was safe, not…” He gestured.

                Jay glanced at himself. He was a big, tall man, built like a brick shithouse. He sighed. “Yeah. I get that. But Tommy, you could have told me.”

                Tommy nestled under the blankets again, setting the Dino Gems on top of his nightstand. Red, Yellow, Blue. So beautiful, so deadly. And there were others—Mercer had promised as much. Others hidden on his Earth, his homeworld.

                “I know.” Tommy agreed. “And I should have, I just…” Well. He’d let his fears get the best of him.

                Jay sighed and reached out to hug Tommy. Tommy crawled into his embrace willingly. “Babe. I know. I wish I could just…”

                Fix it, Tommy knew. Fix all the terror and hurting that Rita and Max and his foster parents had put into him. “You do.” Tommy promised. “Slowly, but it’s there. You do.”

                They stayed quiet for a minute, and Jay said, “We can go together.”

                “When I left,” Tommy said quietly, “I lost the part of me that was submissive. The second gender.”

                Jay nodded, listening.

                “I could survive without it. I did when I was a kid. But Jay…being Dominant, that’s part of your _identity._ Who and what you are.” Tommy looked up, hoping he didn’t look as horrified as he felt. “You would be permanently psychologically injured, and that’s best-case.”

                Jay was silent for a moment, thinking. Tommy rested against him. He liked that Jason thought before he spoke, was measured in his responses.

                “You come back.” Jay said quietly. “On the weekends, whenever you can. Let me be your anchor.”

                “Thank you.” Tommy whispered.

                “I swear, if they hurt you again…”

                “They won’t. I’ll be fine.”

                “I know.” Jay pressed a kiss to Tommy’s shoulder. “Reassure me.”

                Tommy was happy to do that.


	2. Return of the Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was going to post every Saturday, but then I had the Adventures Of The Maybe-Stolen License Plate and had to go to the DMV TWO CITIES AWAY and...yeah.
> 
> But anyway. The first half of Day of the Dino! And more to come next week!
> 
> EDIT: Whoops, forgot to add:
> 
> Tommy seems OOC from DT here. That's because, UNLIKE the idiot writers, I actually have experience with small children from an early age--MUCH LIKE TOMMY IS SUPPOSED TO. I'm writing Tommy as he appeared in Zeo, basically, with a few more years' experience and a lot of therapy under his belt. This is a trend that's going to contiue, because I like Zeo!Tommy a hell of a lot more than Dr. 'I Run Into Battle Screaming That I Want To Murder Children' Oliver. (Seriously. Dude. Not the way to get Trent on your side.)
> 
> Enjoy!

_PR616—August 16, 2004_

There were two teenagers in his house.

                …Or, more accurately, in his Lair. Shit. Shit shit shit. Tommy barely stopped himself from bolting downstairs.

                Conner and Ethan, he saw. They were looking around and…asking if this was the ‘same place’?

                “Well, that depends.” Tommy said, stepping out of the shadows. “Same place as what?”

                They looked him in horror.

                Tommy sighed. “Look. I assume you had a good reason for breaking in. You’re not in trouble right now, just tell me what’s going on.” Always better to keep things calm with kids, he’d learned that back in his years with Justin and the kids in his martial arts classes.

                They looked at each other. “Dude, he’s just gonna laugh if we tell him!” Conner protested.

                “I’m really not.” Tommy said.

                They looked at him. Tommy steeled himself not to laugh. “Kira’s…gone.” Conner supplied.

                …Well, that wasn’t particularly funny. “Gone?”

                “These weird freaky things took her.” Conner explained.

                “Freaky things?”

                “Yeah, all black with scales and feathers and claws for hands.” Ethan supplied.

                “Tyrannodrones.” Tommy muttered. Damnit. Mesegog must be back. “Okay. First thing we’ve gotta do is figure out why they took Kira.”

                “Uh…” Conner said, digging in his pocket and withdrawing the Dino Gems. “It…might have something to do with these.”

                …Well. Fuck.

                “Come on.” Tommy said. He wasn’t leaving the next generation of Power Rangers at his house to get kidnapped, too, especially if they wandered off.

                They could go to Hayley. She could track the Power, and if Mesegog was back, he was using some system of teleportation. Tommy still remembered how the freak had materialized in front of him, behind him, trying to keep him off-balance during their first meeting.

                In the Jeep, they were silent for a minute, and then Conner asked, “So these…Tyrannowhatevers…you know them?”

                “I helped build them.” Tommy replied.

                “Oh, class project?” Conner drawled.

                “When we get Kira back, I’ll explain.” Tommy said. “It’s a long story. I don’t want to tell it more than once.”

                Conner subsided, shooting him angry looks. Tommy sighed inwardly. Teenagers were not best known for their patience, but they needed to prioritize.

                Tommy pulled up to a stop sign.

                “So how is any of this going to help us?” Ethan asked. “I mean, it’s not like Kira’s going to fall out of the sky and land right in front of us.”

                A wormhole opened. Kira fell through. She landed on top of the Jeep.

                Tommy threw the Jeep in park. All three of them raced out of the Jeep.

                The boys helped Kira down, and Tommy scanned the area for threats. “I don’t _know_ what happened!” Kira was protesting. “One minute I’m facing down Meso-goon and his freaks, the next, I’m a hood ornament!”

                “Invisiportals.” Tommy said slowly, because he’d seen the proprietary tech before, a scientist from New Zealand, using her people’s desire to travel in a new way, Dr. Turei…

                “Whatever.” Kira said dismissively. “Next time, I’m calling a cab.” She looked up at the boys. “What’re you guys doing here, anyway?”

                “We were looking for you!” Ethan said, as Tommy tried not to snicker at Kira dismissing him so easily. Kids. They really had no idea who he was.

                As it should be, honestly. They were safe, ensconced in their little world, where the issues of the day were LGBT rights and alien immigrants, where the worst thing to happen was an illegitimate war with Iraq. Which was bad, of course, but Tommy had seen horrors that eclipsed them.

                And they never would. Tommy would protect them. He knew he could. He _had_ to. It had been why he’d come here.

                There was a shimmering sense of _now_ , and Tommy looked up.

                Another invisiportal opened, and a man in armor dropped through, with a bunch of Tyrannodrones.

                Tommy stepped in front of the kids, rolling his shoulders. All righty then. Time to kick some ass.

                “And you are?” He asked, sounding bored, disinterested, ready to kick some ass.

                “I am Zeltrax, servant of Lord Mesegog. Come with me peacefully or suffer the consequences.” The man demanded.

                Tommy snorted. “I’m gonna have to say…no.”

                The man—cyborg, Tommy realized, not a man in armor, a man _with_ armor—drew his sword, pointing it at them. The Tyrannodrones, smart little creatures that they were, attacked.

                Tommy struck back.

                He dove into the fight, into the complete calm and rightness of an enemy and a strike and the sheer power of the damage he could do. The kids caught a few strays, but the Power was protecting them; it was moving their bodies, helping them fight, and they had somehow acquired superpowers.

                That was interesting. Tommy and Anton had theorized about that, before Anton’s death. And the superpowers themselves were glorious—Kira’s sonic scream, Conner’s superspeed, Ethan’s metallic scales. The Power had given them abilities to align with their personalities, apparently; Kira’s offensive, ranged weapon allowing her to protect everyone and anyone, Conner’s ability to turn the lightest deflection into the nastiest break, and Ethan’s ability to defend first himself, then anyone near him.

                Tommy broke the neck of the last one, noting that none of the kids had done lethal damage. Well, it was to be expected. They were young and hesitating. He was going to have to introduce the topic of lethality carefully.

                They regrouped behind Tommy, and Tommy looked at Zeltrax. “I’ve got a message for your boss.” He said calmly. “Tell him Tommy Oliver’s back.”

                “I will inform him that this battle is over, but the war is just begun.” Zeltrax growled, teleporting himself and the Tyrannodrones away.

                The teens looked expectantly at him.

                “Okay.” Conner said. “We got Kira back. _Now_ will you tell us what’s going on?”

                “Yeah. Not here, though.” Tommy said. “Did you check in with your parents?”

                They glanced at each other.

                Tommy sighed. “All right. Let’s get you home, then. We don’t want your parents thinking I kidnapped you. Then we’ll talk tomorrow, after school. I promise.”

                Conner glared, but Kira rolled her eyes at him and hissed, “Enough already! Do you really want your parents freaking out over this?”

                “Like I give a shit.” Conner grumbled.

                “Well I do, so give it a rest.” Kira told him. Then she looked at Tommy. “After school tomorrow.” She said firmly.

                Tommy grinned. He’d wondered who was who, since Conner had all the Dino Gems. “Take your Gems home. Keep them safe.”

                Kira made a face, but took her Red Dino Gem, and Ethan took Blue, leaving Conner with Yellow. They piled into the Jeep again.

                Tommy took them home.

 

#

 

_BPR623-August 16, 2004_

Tommy walked through the portal he’d created into…

                He ducked. Some kind of chaos.

                He closed the portal and surveyed the situation. “Oi, Zack!” He bellowed. “What’s your ninja class doing in here?”

                The toddlers, not particularly caring about the big loud man, since they were much louder, continued to swarm and shriek like banshees.

                “Hey, _you’re_ the one that showed up in our backyard.” Zack teased, walking up to Tommy and clasping arms with him, drawing him into a hug. “Jay’s inside, if you want to know.”

                “Yes, Zack, I want to know where my husband is.” Tommy drawled, shooting him a grin. Walking carefully around the herd of children, Tommy headed inside.

                Jay and Kim were deep in plotting something, wearing the casual band shirts and jeans they preferred at home. Tommy cleared his throat to interrupt. Jay looked up and lit up, seeing him, and Tommy walked over to his side and sank to his knees.

                Jay almost purred, reaching down to hug him. “Hey there.” Jay said, dark and low.

                “Hi.”

                “Hi!” Kim said perkily, grinning at both of their dirty looks. “How’s the teaching going, Tommy?”

                “I found them.” Tommy explained, letting himself relax, now that finally his Dominant was here. “They’re about twelve.”

                “Literally or figuratively?” Jay asked, amused.

                “Figuratively. Literally sixteen. Why the hell am I asking sixteen-year-olds to fight, Jay?”

                “You’re not, the Power is.” Jay corrected firmly, taking Tommy’s hand in his and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “You’re the one who’s going to get them through it.”

                Tommy smiled and rested his head against Jay’s thigh.

                “Okay, you two go reconnect.” Kim said. “I’m gonna go see if the kidlets want to water fight.”

                “What the hell are they doing here, anyway?” Tommy asked idly.

                “Long story. Short version, the gym flooded.” Kim explained, going and looking for water balloons in the kitchen. “You guys have fun now.”

                “Up yours.” Jay said pleasantly.

                “Love you too.” Kim shot back, grabbing a handful of water balloons and heading out back.

                Tommy looked up at Jay hopefully.

                Jay glanced down.

                Tommy rose and led the way to their bedroom.


	3. BioZords

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand welcome to the AU bits! (Well. More so than previously.) Turei is, according to Wikipedia, a Maori surname, but if anyone knows better PLEASE let me know, I know shit-all about Maori culture and I don't want to be rude.

_PR616—August 17, 2004_

Tommy woke up.

                In his own bed. That was wrong, somehow. He pulled himself out from under Jay’s arm, headed for the bathroom, yawned and settled into his morning routine.

                Halfway through brushing his teeth he realized Jay wasn’t supposed to be here.

                He spat hurridly, then all but flew to Jay’s side, muttering spell after spell, trying to wrap Jay in a protective cocoon so he wouldn’t feel it until—

                Jay’s eyes blinked open.

                He started to smile at the sight of Tommy, then blinked. Stared. Shuddered, slightly.

                “Shh-shh-shh.” Tommy crooned. “I know. I know. Let me fix it. Let me get you home—“

                “Tommy?” Jay whispered.

                “Shhh.” Tommy breathed. “Let me work.”

                He dove into the magic.

                He had, for some reason, always envisioned it as a stream, with rocks and tides and eddies. The magic came to him easily, flowing through his hands, wrapping Jay up and gently swirling until he was swept away, back to his homeworld…

                Tommy fell back, breathing out, the taste of peppermint nasty in his mouth and the sense of dread the only thing he could think of. If Jay had lost himself like that…

                His phone rang.

                “Holyfuckareyouokay?” Tommy blurted into it.

                _“Yeah, love. I’m all right.”_ Jay said, half in the low tones of a Dominant, already halfway into his headspace. _“Jesus Christ, no more dimension hopping for me.”_

                “Why the hell did that happen?” Tommy demanded. “I shouldn’t have been able to send us here in my sleep!”

                _“Did you?”_ Jay asked darkly.

                Tommy paused.

                The war between Eltar and an alliance of empires—or, as Eltar billed it, between Good and Evil—was one thing. But several hundred years ago, a new empire had been born, the Machine Empire.

                They were not a civilization, as such. They were a collection of artificial intelligences born of computer viruses, and they used any planet they ‘conquered’ as a simple factory to build new hosts for themselves. When it was a wasteland, they nuked the whole thing and started over.

                Rumor had it the Machine Empire was headed for Earth, in Jay’s homeworld. And the technology to cross universes was possible. Just barely, but still possible—Dr. Turei’s work confirmed it, before Mesegog had presumably murdered her.

                “I’ll keep an eye out.” Tommy finally said. “If they want to keep us from fighting for Earth, they’ve got another think coming.”

                _“Attaboy. I’m going back to sleep. You enjoy teaching.”_

                Tommy snorted. “Not at _this_ hour of the morning. Love you.”

                Jay yawned. _“You too.”_ He said, then cut off the phone. Tommy set his phone on his nightstand, heading in to finish brushing his teeth.

 

#

 

The sky was turning black.

                Tommy cast an analytical spell, reading the glyphs of the lost language of the Dark Dimensions easily. No threat from interdimensional travel—this was Mesegog, then.

                The three teens barreled up to Tommy. “Dr. O?” Kira stated tersely. “Now would be a good time to have that _little chat_ …”

                “Yep. Come on, we can’t do it here.” Tommy agreed, leading them to his Jeep.

                “My name is Tommy Oliver.” He started when they were buckled in. “I used to be the first Green Ranger. Then I was attacked by some students at my high school, and accidentally created a portal to another dimension. I’ve been living there ever since, but Anton Mercer, a friend of mine who could do the same—“

                “That rich guy who disappeared years ago?” Ethan interrupted.

                “That’s the one.” Tommy confirmed, zipping through a yellow light and keeping a weather eye out for cops. “He found your Dino Gems, and convinced me to help him build the technology you guys would need to survive as Rangers. A guy called Mesegog—the lizard freak you met, Kira—interrupted our work and stole most of our tech. It looks like he’s reactivated the BioZords. If he has control of them, he can smash up a lot of stuff and kill a lot of people, but you should be able to regain control of them.”

                “Can’t you just…” Kira waved her hands in a gesture meant to indicate magic.

                Tommy pulled up to his house. “No. They’re locked on to your DNA now, along with the Dino Gems. Come on downstairs.” He didn’t trust Mesegog not to have some kind of ears in the sky. Not really. Not after Rita.

                They went down to his Lair, and Tommy pulled out the Dino Morphers. “You’re going to have to stop this, but you won’t do it alone. I made these for you. They’re called Dino Morphers.” He set them down in front of the teens. “Use these to become Power Rangers.”

                Ethan almost collapsed. “I gotta sit down.”

                Conner caught him. “Breathe, dude.”

                “Wait, we can’t be Power Rangers!” Kira protested. “Aren’t they aliens?”

                “Heh, no.” Tommy said. “That was a rumor we spread to keep anyone from guessing our identities. We’re all human.” Mostly, at least—Ryan and Dana were who knew what, and Time Force came from an era of genetic modification. But still, they qualified as the same species. “Look, I know this is a lot to ask. I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t think you could do it, that the Dino Gems had fallen into the right hands.”

                “How do you know _these_ are the right hands?” Conner asked.

                “Because the Power chooses heroes.” Tommy said simply. He pushed the Dino Morphers to them. “Please.”

                They looked at each other, then took their morphers.

                Tommy guided them through morphing, then through teleporting. He followed with his own magic, opening and sealing a…bubble, in the stream. Something that caused no harm.

                He could see how tangled the stream was, though, how rocky it had become. There was something wrong with the way Mesegog kept ripping at reality.

                Zeltrax teleported down—of course—and a bunch of Tyrannodrones. Tommy took the drones while the teens took Zeltrax.

                Tommy lasted about five minutes before he started cursing under his breath.

                It wasn’t that he thought he could protect them. Not really. The teens had been chosen by the Power; genetics or heroism, whatever it was, it put them in harm’s way. And honestly, _every child_ was in harm’s way at some point. Supervillains or just normal assholes; it didn’t matter.

                What did, though, was that you taught them to fight back. Gave them the weapons to survive. And the BioZords were damn good weapons.

                The problem was getting the kids to them.

                Finally Tommy defeated the last Tyrannodrone, picked it up, and hurled it bodily at Zeltrax. He still had the strength of a Ranger; it knocked Zeltrax off his feet.

                The teens looked back.

                “The BioZords!” Tommy shouted.

                They all turned to their zords. Tommy was too far away to hear what they said. But suddenly the PteraZord was free, and the TriceraZord, and Kira was the only one left.

                Tommy knew what was wrong, even as he watched. She didn’t believe. Not really. All of them had doubts—Ethan, that it was even real; Conner, that he was good enough—but Kira doubted her own fitness for leadership.

                _You can do it._ Tommy thought. _Trust me_.

                Kira couldn’t hear him, he hadn’t used telepathy. But something clicked, and the TyrannoZord was free, and they were leaping into the mind-hearts of their weapons.

                Tommy breathed a sigh of relief.

                “So.” Zeltrax growled, stomping up to him. “Your children have learned to summon their Zords.”

                “Yep.” Tommy agreed proudly. “That they did.” He studied Zeltrax. “Why do you want to fight so much, anyway?”

                “You mean you don’t _remember_?” Zeltrax swung his sword wildly, and Tommy leapt out of the way. He landed in a crouch and straightened, sending a stream of lightning at the cyborg. Zeltrax dodged, coming in for another wild swing, and Tommy wove away.

                “You cost me everything! And you will pay!” Zeltrax raged.

                Tommy swept out the cyborg’s legs from under him. “I’ve never met you before!” He protested. What the hell? “Are you Zedd in disguise or something?”

                The cyborg leapt up—and was sucked up by an invisiportal.

                Well. That was interesting.

                Tommy looked up. The teens were drilling through the heart of Mesegog’s…air-capable spaceship? Whatever the fuck it was. And cheering over their comms.

                “Good job, guys.” Tommy praised, casting a spell so they could hear it in their cockpit. “Now jump down so the Zords can go back into hiding.”

                They jumped down, and Tommy led them away.

 

#

 

“What’s this?” Ethan asked, poking at the holoscreen.

                “A way for you to meet my team.” Tommy explained. “See, their universe and ours don’t mix well—they have a secondary gender that they would lose, coming here, and you would be pretty disoriented by, going there. So this is how we’re going to talk to each other.”

                Will appeared on the other side of the screen. “Tom! Greetings. The others are behind me.” He moved over, revealing most of the team crowded around his shoulder.

                “Hey, guys.” Tommy said, grinning like a madman, he knew he was, but he was bursting with pride. “Let me introduce you to the Dino Rangers. This is Kira, Conner, and Ethan. Guys, this is my team—Will, Kim, Tri, Zack, and Jay.”

                “Hey, guys!” Kim said, plopping down on Will’s lap without reserve. “So how’d your first fight go?”

                “Awesome!” Conner blurted. “We got to pilot _giant robots_!”

                “I’m a _superhero_.” Ethan said, sounding starstruck.

                “We did okay.” Kira said with a grin.

                Tommy stood back to watch his teams interact.


	4. Inner Worth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we meet Jay's universe!

_PR616—August 21_

Kira was zoning out again.

                Tommy glanced over the two boys, who looked ready to beat the crap out of each other because of some earlier slight, and sighed. “Guys, short version, in sparring we _don’t_ go super-hard, because beating each other up is not actually the point of this exercise. Can you try again _nicely_?”

                The boys looked sheepish and apologized, and Tommy reached out and tapped Kira’s shoulder. “Hey. Time to wake up, Kira.”

                Kira blinked, startled. The boys were already completely engaged in their ‘fight’, which seemed to consist of a bad attempt at wrestling. She looked over at them and groaned, but Tommy caught her shoulder before she could try to intervene. “Let them get it out of their systems.” Tommy advised. “Hey. Talk to me for a minute. That’s the third time you’ve zoned out like that today. What’s going on?”

                Kira sighed. “Nothing. Just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

                Tommy nodded. “Homework?” He was leading the push—or, well, _was_ the push—for the collective homework of the school to go down. Randall was in firm opposition, of course, but that wasn’t stopping him. And of course they’d gone to the Cyberspace earlier before Tommy had called them away for training; maybe they’d gotten up too early for a Saturday…

                “No, I just…” Kira looked at the ground. “I can’t keep this up. I’m trying to be a good leader but I can’t be there for everything and I’m just…falling apart.”

                Aha. Tommy nodded again. “Yeah. I hear you. That’s how I felt at first, too. Like you have to be everything to your team all the time.”

                “Yeah.” Kira looked up. “How do you do it?” She asked, sounding honestly curious.

                “I trust my team.” Tommy replied, equally honest. “I trusted my other teams to come to me with problems. I trust you guys to do your best, without me needing to be there every step of the way. That’s the whole point of what we’re doing today, honestly. We’re trying to get you to the point where you can stand on your own two feet.”

                Kira considered that.

                Tommy whistled, and the boys jumped up. Tommy had found that trick a bit better than yelling, especially in a crowded dojo (which they weren’t in, but whatever). “Okay, guys, we’re going to try something new. Hang out back here for a minute.”

                Tommy dug around in his box of random training shit and came up with a beanbag. “Okay. Now, you have to remember, being a Power Ranger isn’t just about punching things. A _lot_ of what we do, and trust me, I mean about ninety percent, is strategy. So we’re going to work on some strategy.” Tommy considered. “Pig monster. Wears a helmet, looks like a face with arms and legs. It’s designed to consume everything on the planet and plunge Earth into a famine. Now, without any one person taking the lead: How do you defeat it?”

                Tommy tossed the beanbag to Ethan, who by all rights really needed to start thinking in strategic terms about yesterday if possible, given that he kept being the social glue of the team. Ethan caught it and looked to Kira.

                “Uh…” Kira started.

                “No, Ethan’s got the beanbag now. It’s his job to come up with a plan.” Tommy reminded her. “Ethan? Take a minute and think about it if you need to.”

                Ethan looked nonplussed, then said, “Uh…we could try cutting its limbs off?” Tommy nodded, and he tossed the beanbag to Conner.

                Conner took it and said, “Easy. I superspeed around it while Kira and Ethan distract it and stab it in the back.”

                Tommy snorted. “Direct. Okay, give Kira a turn. Pass the beanbag around.”

                Conner tossed the beanbag to Kira, who asked, “Does it have weaknesses?”

                “Good question!” Tommy praised. “Yes, it does. It can’t digest one thing. Now it’s someone else’s turn.”

                Kira tossed the beanbag back to Ethan. “We could try different things to see what weakness it has.” Ethan said, a little more confidently than last time.

                “Good! What do you try?” Tommy prompted.

                A beeping went off.

                Tommy sighed. “Okay. Gimme a minute.” He went over to his wall computer, typing in his password. Aha! “Okay, who wants to come with me to find the Raptor Riders?”

                “The what now?” Ethan asked, excited by the new tech.

                “Can’t we finish the exercise?” Conner whined.

                “When we get back. You guys can do some weights if you want while we’re gone, it shouldn’t be that long.” Tommy offered.

                “Okay.” Kira said, obviously wanting to stay and argue out the details with Conner. That was good; the exercise was working if she was getting input from the others, not just trying to pull everyone’s weight.

                “Come on, Ethan.” Tommy said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”

 

#

_BPR623-August 21_

The sky was turning black in the middle of the day.

                Again.

                Jay scanned the area quickly while Will set up his equipment. This was getting to be the last straw for the government, so the Power Rangers had been called in. Ranger jurisdiction was different in their universe, where they’d been negotiating with the government since high school, but ultimately it came down to shared goals and hopes and prayers on behalf of just about everyone who wasn’t Will.

                “Invisiportal.” Will murmered, familiar with his leader’s lack of patience with things he couldn’t shoot. “I know that much going in.”

                “Doesn’t reassure me much. I’ll check the perimeter, keep anyone from getting in.” Jay said.

                “The others have it.” Will said.

                “Indulge me.” Jay took off before Will could answer. Truthfully, something in these portals made him antsy; he just couldn’t stand still any longer.

                Of course, the others were doing fine. Zack was covering the woods, Trini talking to reporters, Kim watching from the air via her Firebird zord. Jay settled for just putting eyes on them, just—

                _“Red. I have something.”_

                Jay teleported back to Will’s side. Will was directly under the wormhole, a beam of what looked like black light illuminating it. “What is it?” Jay asked.

                “A reality disturbance.” Will said automatically, then added, “Oh. That. Yes, this one—it corresponds with one in Green’s universe.”

                “Where?”

                The sky suddenly turned blue again.

                “We’ll have to ask.” Will said. “This one’s closed, though—my machine did enough. Shall we?”

                Jay nodded, and made the signal to round up and leave. “Come on. Let’s go let the government know what we’ve found. Maybe they’ve got some answers.”

                Though, honestly, he doubted it.

 

#

 

_PR616—August 21_

“Where’d you learn that exercise, anyway?”

                “My dimension.” Tommy said, walking carefully through the undergrowth. The coastal forests were dense and dark, and it was easy to step wrong into a brush and twist an ankle. Or, even _more_ fun, annoy a snake. “You guys have to work as a team, not a hierarchy. Kira’s the leader, yes, but leading from the front is the Ranger way, not putting one team member above another.”

                “Oh.” Ethan said. “But what if something goes wrong?”

                “How do you mean?” Tommy asked, carefully avoiding a small squirrel. Or, as he’d heard one of his students call it, a minibear. Tommy did not know why it was called that, but that was hilarious, so he was keeping it.

                “What if I make the wrong choice?” Ethan asked. “Isn’t Kira’s job to keep me from doing that?”

                …Tommy started getting a nagging feeling that his Rangers were a bundle of issues, and that was not normal in teenagers, not at all. A healthy teenager was confident and outward-reaching, not a mess of nerves. “No. You’re going to make mistakes, Ethan. But they’re not going to be the end of the world, either.”

                “How do you know?” Ethan asked tightly.

                “Because I’ve screwed up plenty.” Tommy said, trying to smile, to reassure Ethan that the world really wasn’t going to end if he screwed up. “What matters isn’t that you screwed up, it’s that you work to fix your mistakes.”

                Ethan considered that.

                Tommy almost tripped over a Dino Egg.

                Whoops.

                “Hey, found ‘em!” Tommy said, grinning.

                “You are one perky person.” Ethan grumbled, but halfheartedly. He crouched next to Tommy in the mess of dirt and branches. “What do we do with ‘em?”

                “Get them in the backpack. _Carefully_.” Tommy warned, well aware that newly-superheroed teenager often equaled destructiveness. He’d broken his own fair share of chairs and doors before realizing how strong he was. Luckily Ethan seemed to have the idea. Tommy reached out to steady an egg that Ethan almost dropped, though. “Whoa, get a good grip on it before you move it.”

                “Sorry.”

                “Don’t be. It happens.” Tommy said easily, trying not to scowl. Who the hell was messing up his Blue?

                “Yum. Eggs.” An incredibly sarcastic female voice said. “And I forgot lunch, too.”

                Tommy straightened into a fighting stance, slipping the backpack over his shoulders. “You really could try for some sense with your sarcasm, you know.” He deadpanned. “Seeing as these are made of metal, poisonous fluids, and gemstones.”

                “Delicious.” The woman snarked back. Zeltrax stepped up beside her. “Attack!”

                Zeltrax and the woman rushed forward. Mesegog’s ‘Elsa’, then, judging from Kira’s description. Tommy dodged, while Ethan ran off to morph. (That had been a rather short conversation. ‘Helmets protect us from head injuries’ had been a big star in it.)

                Fighting two opponents had always been simpler for Tommy than fighting one, mostly because he cross-trained for multiple opponents whenever he got the chance. Ethan joined the fight fluidly, obviously having paid attention to Tommy’s lectures…

                No, Tommy realized after a minute. He was just letting Tommy take the lead, like a dance lead would. Well, shit. It was going to take some time and work to build his Blue up. And his Yellow. And probably his Red, too, what the hell was wrong with this dimension?

                Kira and Conner arrived after a minute. Ethan disengaged, and the teens grouped around Tommy and the eggs. Tommy let them; he was the last line of defense for the eggs, not the first. “You like these odds?” Ethan taunted. “Cause you look busted to me!”

                “This isn’t over, _Power Rangers_!” Elsa spat, and the two of them vanished into an invisiportal.

                Tommy found himself cocking his head at Ethan. Interesting. He was _secure_ not in command, not just suffering from chronically low self-esteem.

                Conner’s watch beeped. “Dude!” Conner said suddenly. “The Wave tryouts! I gotta go.”

                “You had to leave about fifteen minutes ago, actually.” Ethan commented.

                “Sh—oot. I’llseeyouguyslater!” Conner blurted, running off.

                “Good luck!” Tommy called, but Conner was already taking off. Well, that sucked. Tommy hadn’t realized those were today, or he’d have sent Conner over directly instead of having him work on weights.

                “So.” Kira said. “We’re done?”

                “Yeah. I’ll get these back to the lab. You guys go enjoy the Cyberspace.” Tommy said.

                They said their goodbyes and headed off again.

                Tommy hefted the eggs and sighed. As if he didn’t have enough things to worry about…

 

#

 

_PR616—August 21_

_“Wave tryouts?”_ Jay asked. _“And he started them_ after _practice?”_

                “Yeah.” Tommy agreed.

                Jay looked up from the screen he’d been fiddling with. _“That’s…not right. That aligns almost perfectly with another invisiportal sighting. Tom, I think something’s going screwy with your reality.”_

                _“Confirmed.”_ Will said. _“We had those here. They should have started at the same time; some incidents just align between worlds for…well, I have no conclusive theories, but it’s fairly obvious when they do, especially if a Ranger is involved. There’s a unique energy signature. And the signature got spectacularly disrupted sometime early this morning.”_

                “Could it have been anything I did?” Tommy asked. “I had them come over early today, after they ran off from the Cyberspace…”

                _“Did they mention they were giving up any events?”_ Will asked reasonably.

                Tommy shook his head. “Conner would’ve said. They just wanted to get out of there because Kira needed some guitar stuff, and I called and reminded them about practice.”

                Will tilted his head. He was autistic; he couldn’t quite mimic normal facial expressions, so he used body language to telegraph his feelings for others’ benifit. _“That’s not right. Red Dino energy was strong there. You shouldn’t have had anything planned for this…”_

                “Is there a pattern?” Tommy asked. If there was, Will had probably already picked up on it. He had pattern recognition skills that blew professionals out of the water.

                _“Nothing conclusive.”_ Will said. _“Which I believe indicates an organic nature. You mentioned Mesegog might have stolen someone else’s work to get the invisiportals? He may not know how to control them. They may simply be acting as spiral arms of an organic wormhole that is located as the center of his teleportation device.”_

                “So I can sense it.” Tommy deduced. “If I can, maybe I can contain it somehow—“

                _“No!”_ Will yelped in alarm. _“Sorry. No, that’s a bad idea, Tom. Whatever’s going on is unlikely to respond to sentient intervention.”_

“Ah.”

                _“Anyway. We can keep an eye on—“_ Jay started.

                There was a cracking noise.

                “Shit. The Raptor Riders are hatching. Talk to you later?” Tommy asked.

                _“Sure. We’ll update you when we’ve got more. Love you.”_

                “Love you too.” Tommy turned off his comlink and turned to the Raptor Riders.

                They emerged, shaking off the eggshell, and began to grow; the combination of science and magic that the Power was allowed for things like that. Tommy grinned as they did…

                …And slowly realized that he was staring down three raptors who looked slightly hungry.

                Tommy picked up a ball. They were programmed to play harmlessly for their first interaction; time to see if that held up. He tossed it—

                And the raptors leapt.

                Tommy was grinning when a raptor threw him across the room with an overenthusiastic whack of a tail.

                Tommy gestured, casting a protective spell over the equipment, then got up. “Guys. Guys!” He shouted, trying to get their attention. The next step in their programming was to respond to anyone with the Power, if available; Tommy or Anton, if no one else was.

                The raptors almost bowled him over.

                “Ack! Guys! Stop it!” Tommy yelped, trying to squirm away from the raptors that were now trying to lick him to death. “Guys, I’m not—aaaaah ick _your tongue went in my mouth that is disgusting_!”

                The door opened. The raptors spun, and Tommy leapt up. “Don’t come in, it’s not safe!” He shouted, having a sudden vision of broken bones from overenthusiastic raptor riders. He tried to climb over Red, only to have it toss him through the door, covering him in the gunk of the egg.

                The door shut.

                Tommy looked at the ceiling and prayed for patience.

                “Those’re the raptors?” Ethan guessed.

                “Yeah. They’re fine, just overenthusiastic. And you don’t really want half a ton of metal getting ‘overenthusiastic’ at you.” Tommy said, accepting the hand up and trying not to snicker at Ethan’s grossed-out face. “What’s up, guys?”

                “I blew it!” Conner ranted. “I showed up almost an _hour_ late to the tryouts! The coach basically said forget it! And who can blame him? I can’t…I can’t keep doing this, Dr. O. I’ve gotta resign.”

                “Whoa, what?” Kira demanded.

                “You’re talking crazy!” Ethan snapped.

                “Guys!” Tommy interrupted. “Let Conner talk.”

                Conner seemed done, though. He just glared and said, “I’m done. Being a soccer player…it’s my _life_. I can’t just give that up.”

                “Hey, I’ve got things I want to do, but I’m here. I’m dealing.” Kira pointed out.

                “Good for you.” Conner said, turning to leave. “I guess I’m just different.”

                “Conner.” Tommy called. “Can we talk?”

                Conner winced, looking like he wanted to run and hide. “I guess…”

                Tommy led him a little ways down the tunnels. “What’s really going on?” He asked.

                Conner looked like a confused puppy.

                “You’re a good person, Conner.” Tommy said gently. “You’re not selfish. You wouldn’t be pulling the soccer card unless you had something else going on. So what is it?”

                Conner looked over his shoulder, making sure Ethan and Kira weren’t listening. Then he said, “Why am I not Red?”

                Tommy blinked. “I have no idea.” He said honestly. “It’s hard to tell, with these gems. They run on a combination of genetics and personality traits that I couldn’t even begin to say I understood. But Conner, being Yellow isn’t a bad thing.”

                “But I can do more!” Conner said. “I know I can.” He trailed off at the end of it, and Tommy seriously considered hunting down whoever was fucking up his kids and killing them.

                “Conner, you are.” Tommy said. “You don’t have to be the best at everything to help. You just have to be _you_.” Tommy considered. “Normally, Yellows are the ones who keep their teams stable. You’re a good leader on the soccer field, Conner. Do you know why?”

                “Yeah, do _you_?” Conner shot back, crossing his arms.

                Tommy smiled. “Of course I do. I’ve heard a lot about your leadership style, and you work by encouraging others and appealing to their emotions. That’s not what’s needed for a Red—a Red is usually a bit of a tank—but it’s what a _Yellow_ is perfect at. You’re a perfect second-in-command for Kira, Conner, and that doesn’t mean you’re second-best. It means you have a job to do that’s _different_ , that’s all.”

                Conner considered. Glanced back at Kira. “I mean. She’s a _girl_.”

                Tommy silently cursed toxic masculinity. “Yes. That doesn’t mean she can’t lead. Or that you aren’t manly enough for following her.”

                Conner looked up at him carefully.

                “Really.” Tommy reassured him. “Why wouldn’t you be? All the best heroes know when to follow. Even King Arthur was a squire once.”

                Conner nodded slowly. “Give me some time?” He asked. “I just…I gotta think about this.”

                “Okay.” Tommy agreed.

                Conner headed out, and Kira and Ethan swept up to him. “We’re just gonna let him _go_?” Kira demanded.

                “He just needs some time.” Tommy said. “This isn’t about soccer; this is about personal stuff. Let him work it out.”

                Kira and Ethan glanced at each other, then slowly nodded and turned to leave themselves.

                _And now to deal with the Raptor Riders…_ Tommy thought, sighing and turning back to his own work.

 

#

 

_PR616—August 21_

The monster alarm went off.

                Tommy signaled his Rangers. “Guys, there’s a monster in the shopping district. It looks like a…wormhole-themed…actually, never mind, I’ve got this.” Yeah, they weren’t going to have a hope in hell against this one. Wormholes were his specialty, not the kids’.

                Anyway, they’d had enough to deal with today.

                Tommy teleported into a hidden position on the battlefield, then swept his hands, murmuring a spell to teleport away the civilians.

                The monster looked up, sniffing. It looked like someone had crossed a dog with…

                With Astronema’s Dark Fortress, maybe. It kept fading in and out, shifting shape, as if it weren’t entirely real. Tommy frowned and reached out, trying to sense it.

                It was there, definitely, but it wasn’t quite…

                “Hey, doggie! Wanna treat?” Ethan called out.

                Tommy poked his head out from around the corner.

                Kira was sneaking up on the dog, and Conner was acting as a sniper from a nearby roof with his Blade Blaster. Tommy’s heart swelled. He’d never been so proud.

                Of course, they still had no idea what they were doing—

                Kira slapped something against the dog, and jumped back. The dog—or rather, the invisiportal shaped like a dog—exploded…

                There was a sense of a black hole, of the void of space, and Tommy ran up and leapt at it, throwing his body into it and sending out magic on pure instinct.

                It worked. The invisiportal responded to him, healing the rift in spacetime, and Tommy fell to the ground. There was nothing left for Mesegog to grow, at least.

                The teens cheered.

                Tommy held up a hand and teleported them away.

                They appeared in the Lair, and the kids took their helmets off, babbling.

                “…You called and I heard…” Ethan babbled.

                “I know I can’t lead _all the time_ but I can at least do it on the battlefield…” Kira said.

                “…Kira forgot so I called Jay and he gave us that device…” Conner explained.

                “Guys!” Tommy interrupted. “Good job, all of you. But next time you’re going to take experimental tech into a battlefield, _warn me first_.”

                They all grinned sheepishly, muttering apologies.

                “Okay. Job’s done, though, that’s what’s important. Now, let’s get you back to whatever you were doing. Kira, you’ve got a gig soon…”

 

#

_BPR623-August 21_

“It _worked_?” Will demanded, dropping the dish he was working on down into the sink and coming over to the comlink.

                _“Perfectly, why?”_ Tommy asked from his dimension.

                “Because that wasn’t a real prototype. That was designed to create a distraction for you to work in.” Will explained, ignoring how Kim came to stand behind him. “Make it easier, at most. It shouldn’t have worked _alone_.”

                Tommy thought about that for a minute. _“Are you saying that there’s a new player?”_

                “Could be anyone.” Zack suggested. “I get random magic bursts from about a quarter of my students. You should have at least that ratio, even given how toxic Earth’s environment is.”

                Tommy sighed. _“No way to find them, then. Let’s hope it was one of the kids.”_

                “You might have a Sixth somewhere out there.” Jay pointed out. “It’s not like just anyone can handle Ranger jurisdiction. The Power doesn’t allow it.”

                Tommy nodded slowly. _“I’ll start looking again, see if we missed any Dino Gems. Can you look from your end?”_

                “Sure.” Will said.

                “Dishes _first_.” Kim insisted. “Or you’re going to burn out again. You need some quiet time.”

                Will looked up at his Domme and grinned sheepishly. “Yes ma’am. I’ll see you later, Tommy.”

                _“Yeah, have fun.”_ Tommy said.

                “I will never get how dishes equal quiet time.” Trini said dryly from where she was knitting something.

                “If I don’t have him do something with his hands, he starts thinking he can just make something while I’m not looking.” Kim explained. “And that it ‘won’t take any attention, really, it’s not work if I’m resting’.”

                “It isn’t!” Will called from the kitchen.

                “Yes it is!” Kim called back.

                _“Anyway. Talk to you soon?”_ Tommy asked hopefully.

                “Of course.” Jay promised. “Sunday?”

                Tommy grinned and shot a thumbs-up to the screen. _“See you then, love.”_

                “See you then.” Jay agreed, cutting the communicator.

                Jay, Kim, and Trini looked at each other.

                “I’ll start looking on the magic side.” Trini said, getting up. “Let’s see if whoever’s playing with reality can keep up with me.”

                “I’ll keep Will from burning out.” Kimberly said.

                “I’ll look pretty.” Zack said.

                Jay laughed. “Come on, Zack. Video game marathon. We’re on standby for when we’re needed.”

                “Let’s do it.” Zack agreed.


	5. Wormholes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY this took so long. Basically I haven't slept properly in about three weeks, Easter was hell, and my allergy meds knocked me out...
> 
> I AM going to continue this, I promise. Updates may be patchy as I figure out how to work around all the sudden wtfness my life has aqquired, though.

_PR616—August 23_

There was a note in Tommy’s pocket.

                It was written in cut-outs from some kind of magazine. It said ‘FIX THE INVISIPORTALS’.

                Tommy glanced it over, then shoved it back in his pocket. It was lunch time, and he wasn’t on monitor duty. So he ducked into a janitor’s closet and tapped his morpher.

                _“Hey, love.”_ Jay said after a minute. _“What is it?”_

                “Someone left a note in my back pocket saying to fix the invisiportal network.” Tommy explained.

                Jay was quiet for a minute. _“That’s a trap.”_

                “Or it’s some kind of warning.” Tommy argued. “Kira’s got a gig tonight, I don’t want anything messing it up.”

                _“One of these days your overprotectiveness is going to get you killed.”_ Jay said dryly. _“Give it a few hours. See what we can find on this end.”_

                “Sure thing, love.” The bell gave a loud beeping, and students flooded the hallway. “Gotta go, or some kid is going to decide I’m having a secret affair in here.”

                _“Pity I’m not there to encourage the rumors.”_ Jay said with a snort. _“Love you.”_

                “Love you too.” Tommy killed the transmission and headed out.

                The teacher’s lounge was a riot of exhaustion, teachers swapping horror stories about children fresh out of summer and the weirdness of some of the new rules. For her part, Randall ruled the lounge with a dry wit that made the more sarcastic teachers laugh, even if the students were complaining left and right.

                “Tommy!” She called out when Tommy entered the lounge. “Given up on showing the students the ‘joy of learning’ yet?”

                The room laughed, and Tommy went to the staff fridge to dig out his lunch. “My kids are doing great, actually.” Tommy said over his shoulder. “How’s your meetings going?”

                Randall scowled. “Don’t even mention those. Why those idiot parents think that I’m suddenly going to change the rules because of their little snowflake is beyond me…”

                Tommy tuned her out, letting her hold court among the more sarcastic of the teachers, noting that he was not the only teacher to be avoiding her little circle. He went over to sit by John, beckoning Rebecca and Andrew over.

                They came slowly and hesitantly, but Tommy started in by saying, “So, who saw _The Incredibles_ this weekend?” and the conversation jumped from there. Quiet, and hidden, but still a conversation. The occasional loud, rude laugh came over from Randall’s group, but they all stayed relatively peaceful in their group. A movie about superheroes in a town with them was always a good conversation-starter, especially with two English teachers in the room.

                Tommy successfully didn’t remember the note until the group broke up for afternoon classes.

 

#

_BPR623-August 23_

There were, of course, major differences between Jay’s world and Tommy’s birth world.

                One of those differences was a war.

                In Tommy’s world they’d somehow avoided it, but in Jay’s world, Rita had given the Green Power Coin to her own son. He’d been overcome with regret for what he’d done, and blown himself up with some kind of bomb, taking her with it. And in retaliation, her empire had sent out an army. She had been all but thrown off the throne—but they’d never taken that final step, because many in her empire had agreed with her expansionist policies. And they rose up.

                Earth had won that war, with Eltar’s help, but Zordon had left after the war was won. Gone on to retreat from the galaxy, to find himself again. After all, as not only he pointed out, he had recruited child soldiers to fight a war for him. He had relied on an adopted sixth, Tommy, to free him from his dimensional prison. He had placed the most vulnerable in harm’s way, and it was sheer luck they’d made it out alive and sane.

                The threat of jail time from Eltar had helped that decision a little, too.

                But Jay had always kept tabs on Zordon. He had remained on Earth for his exile, walking into Death Valley to commune with nature and himself. Jay was not always Zordon’s biggest fan—he might have loved being a superhero, but growing up had made him come to terms with how _young_ he’d been, how young _Thrax_ had been, how much could have been prevented—but he knew better than to let Zordon die on Earth and become a martyr.

                So he stood behind Zordon and waited for him to notice.

                “Jay.” Zordon finally said. “I knew you would come.”

                Jay gestured at the world around him silently. “Yeah.” He agreed.

                Time had stopped. The sun wasn’t moving, there was no wind, no tides. The sky was an unnatural darkened shade, and streaks of reality like black-green lightning shot through everything.

                Very few people were unaffected. Jay and the Rangers were lucky enough to be on that list.

                “Interdimensional travel is not something to be taken lightly.” Zordon began. “Even I do not stray beyond a few select dimensions. The consequences of it can be disastrous.”

                “We’ve had travelers before, though.” Jay pointed out.

                “Yes. Starting with Tommy.” Zordon did not move from his meditations. “I do not blame him. He had no knowledge. And I did not know either, since Rita’s demise meant I could no longer collaborate with either her or Zedd.” Jay remained quiet at that. He’d gotten the sense, more than once, that Zordon and Rita and Zedd were, if not friends, co-conspirators at more than one point in history. The war had always been so _personal_ for all of them. “But when something comes from one dimension to another, forces begin to arise that we cannot control. And something has sped them up recently.”

                “What forces?” Jay asked patiently.

                Zordon lifted a pebble with his mind. “Consider this our dimension.” He said. He lifted another. “And this Tommy’s. Now watch.”

                Zordon did not move them; instead he simply let them hover while he summoned a wind. They were blown together, and knocked back, and he let them fall.

                “Such things happen, of course. They usually pass by without incident. There is no memory of the event beyond a select few people, and no real evidence of it.” Zordon said. “Like the collision of galaxies. No one within them really notices.”

                “But now we’re noticing.” Jay said.

                “Yes.” Zordon agreed. “Because this universe is _aware_ , in ways it should not be. And so we head for a collision. I cannot say what will happen when we do collide, but the collision is unstoppable now.”

                Jay sighed. “Thanks.” He said. He turned, then paused. “You want a lift?”

                “No.” Zordon said, then after a pause, “Thank you.”

                “No problem.” Jay said, hopping on his bike.

                He flexed his fingers, miming tapping on a keyboard, and Will’s voice greeted him over the comlink. “Hey, bud.” Jay said, starting to drive. “You’re not gonna believe this…”

 

#

 

 

_PR616—August 23_

Tommy barely had time to fight.

                One minute he was on the way to Kira’s performance; the next he was being swept up by Tyrannodrones. Tommy fought, but the invisiportal had already swept him up, already landed him in Mesegog’s headquarters—

                The sick bastard was using the old lab he and Anton had developed. Tommy felt his heart wrench. When Anton had vanished, hadn’t come back from the exploding island, he’d assumed Mesegog had found him (prayed his own bombs hadn’t killed him as he tried to escape). This had been a graveyard, for more than just Anton, scientists killed left and right by Mesegog. And now Mesegog was desecrating it with his presence—

                Zeltrax swiped an axe at him. Tommy ducked, drawn back to awareness of the fight.

                Zeltrax was shouting something about finally defeating him, but Tommy was ignoring him, trying to send a telepathic message to Hayley. He didn’t know if he succeeded, but he had to stop as Zeltrax increased his furious attempts at combat.

                Interesting; Zeltrax fought like he knew how. Like he’d trained somewhere, but not any military style Tommy knew…

                A Tyrannodrone came up from behind him and locked his arms behind his back.

                Tommy tried to break free, to headbutt, to kick, anything, but the Tyrannodrone’s programming was to deal with supervillains. It didn’t work.

                _Well, fuck._

 

#

_BPR623-August 23_

“What?” Jay asked, hoping he’d misheard.

                _“I told you, I don’t know. It just sounded like Tommy shouting.”_ Hayley snapped irritably. _“The kids know I’m involved, but they’re busy at the moment, and I don’t want to interrupt Kira’s performance—“_

                “Yeah. Yeah, I get it.” Jay agreed, mind churning. What the hell? Why would—

                “Jay!” Will came thundering downstairs, skidding to a halt in socks on the linoleum floor. “Hayley. Jay, _you need to see this_.”

                “One second.” Jay promised, putting the transmission on standby. He turned to Will, who charged upstairs again. Jay followed, a little less elephant-like.

                Will’s den was a maze of holograms and technology, order kept in a system only he knew. Jay picked his way through to one of the holograms Will indicated, frowning at it. “What…”

                “Another Dino Gem, but it’s reading in _both_ of our universes.” Will explained, shaking his head. “And about five different reality interruptions.”

                “Reality interruptions?”

                “It’s the best term for it.”

                Jay nodded, then turned to go downstairs. On an afterthought, he asked, “Can you pick up who the primary is?”

                “If it’s reading like this? I don’t need to. It’s Tommy. And once Tommy touches it…”

                Jay raised an eyebrow.

                Billy made a gesture with his hands, his fingers interlacing almost violently, a home sign for ‘merging’, the ASL connotations of ‘fighting’ not lost on anyone.

                “Got it.” Jay headed downstairs, flipping on the transmission. “If we don’t know where Tom is, we need to assume he’s been captured. There’s a new Dino Gem, and it’s reading at a coordinate that means somewhere over the ocean for us—“

                _“Mesegog’s lair.”_ Hayley said instantly. _“The old lab island. Jurassic Park.”_

                She’d always called it that, and Jay had joined in teasing Tom, but this was too important for jokes. “Are the kids ready for this?”

                _“No.”_

                “Shit.” Jay considered. “Okay. We’ll go. If we morph, the effects shouldn’t be too bad.”

                _“There’s about forty other Rangers here—“_

                “Who you can’t contact.” Jay pointed out. “Unless you think the Ninjas can deal with it?”

                _“Maybe. They’re the ones I’d trust to try, anyway.”_ Hayley said, frowning. _“If I can just hack into the Invisiportal network, I should be able to find a way to teleport him—“_

                “Good. You and Cam start on that. Don’t do anything that looks like it could fuck up reality. Get the kids indoors and safe, as soon as possible. We’ll teleport over.” Jay said, cutting the transmission before she could argue.

                “We’re on?” Kim asked, coming in from wherever she’d been. Gardening, probably—she’d just come home from work, and she said plants were a lot more stable than the people she dealt with as a police officer.

                “That we are. Grab the others.” Jay turned, knowing Will was there. “Will, I want you on this end. Monitor us for shock or medical distress; our suits should be able to tell you if we’re heading that way. Make sure our reality stays stable.”

                “It won’t.” Will said calmly. “There’s nothing I can do about that.”

                “Then monitor and be ready to pull us back.” Jay said, pulling out his morpher. “I know you said you upgraded our morphs, but—“

                “Upgraded the morphs?” Zack asked, appearing out of seemingly nowhere, Trini with him.

                “Tom’s been captured.” Jay said, starting the briefing. “He’s in proximity to a Dino Gem with his name on it, and if he touches it, he could potentially move our universes together completely. Those upgrades Will did last month were designed to protect us if we ever had to go into his dimension; we won’t lose our secondary genders, so long as we stay morphed. So, we morph in, we _stay morphed_ , and if anything goes wrong Will will pull us back. We’re attacking Mesegog’s lair. We don’t have schematics, so we’re going to have to be very, very lucky. Everyone clear?”

                “Well, shit, when you put it _that_ way.” Kim said. “No schematics?”

                “Mesegog’s damn good at keeping anyone from infiltrating his airspace or waters.” Jay growled. “We’re going blind, folks.”

                “Right.” Zack said, assuming his duties as second. “Okay, everyone, it’s morphing time!”

 

#

_PR616—August 23_

The teens stopped short.

                The DinoLair was full of…Rangers. Morphed Rangers.

                Ethan was the first to speak. “No Will?” He asked.

                Jay and his Rangers turned. “Nope, sorry.” Jay said calmly, almost amused, the same way Dr. O was when he spoke, Kira realized. “He’s on emergency teleport duty. Come inside.”

                Kira led the way in, trying not to glance at her teammates. She didn’t want to seem unsure in front of Jay.

                “Tommy’s been captured.” Jay said bluntly. “We’re here to help. He’s on Mesegog’s lair; we don’t want you guys going up against Mesegog just yet. We don’t know anything about his abilities, we don’t like what we’ve seen of his technology, and he’d love to kill the three of you.”

                “Hey, I was able to—“ Kira started, slightly insulted.

                “Escape.” Jay interrupted, not unkindly. “Which was good, but given what you told us, we think he might be able to manipulate reality around him. You do _not_ want to fight a reality manipulator yet. We have years of training dealing with various forms of magic, and you just started this a few weeks ago. We’re not trying to say you can’t handle yourselves, just that we need you to step back for a bit.”

                Kira opened her mouth, but Conner punched her in the arm. “He’s right.” He muttered.

                “We can handle it!” Kira hissed back.

                “No we can’t.” Ethan said. “Reality manipulator. Imagine what he could do if he, say, teleported your heart outside of your body.”

                All three of them paused at _that_ particular image.

                “Okay. Fine.” Kira said quietly. “But we should still _help_.”

                “You can.” Hayley said. “Jump on a computer. Ethan, I need you to look over the firewalls and make sure no one notices what I’m doing. Kira, Conner, watch the monitors. Any monsters spit themselves out, you’re on duty.”

                “Got it.” Kira said, leading the way. That was her job; she was starting to enjoy it. Ethan slipped into the seat next to Hayley, babbling techno-terms; Kira settled in front of the monitors, scanning through them.

                “So what’re you guys going to do?” Kira asked Jay casually, eyes not leaving the monitor.

                “Go in, beat the crap out of Mesegog, come back.” Zack replied. “We just need some kind of way in—“

                “Got it!” Hayley crowed. “Okay, you have to hit the invisiportals at—“

                “The right speed, we know. Come on, guys, to the cycles!” Jay said, and everyone sniggered.

                “Sure, Batman.” Kim said, and they all teleported out, still joking.

                Kira felt the silence weigh on her.

                “It should be us.” Ethan said aloud. “We’re the Power Rangers.”

                “So are they.” Hayley said. “And I need people here. I’m not just making work for you, trust me. If Mesegog finds out—sh—oot, Ethan, watch your code!”

                “Whoops, sorry.” Ethan mumbled, starting to type.

                Kira studied her screens. One of the hacked images was security footage from the rock quarry; Kira saw them land.

                She prayed they would do what she couldn’t.

 

#

 

_PR616—August 23_

Tommy focused on his breathing.

                Mesegog was using something he called a life force extractor. Tommy doubted he had the knowledge to actually construct one; it was just some kind of torture weapon. The magic of life force was beyond a scientifically-minded freak like Mesegog.

                Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

                Tommy could sense the power of the Black Dino Gem. He knew what it was, what it did—he could feel it _calling_ to him, and remembered, suddenly and bitterly, Anton’s promise of more Gems. He’d been so sure they were going to save the children it had chosen…

                But it was choosing him. Giving him the power to stand by his children, to make a difference in their fight.

                To do more, to _be_ more, to give them everything he could.

                He tried to summon his magic, but the ‘life-force extractor’ turned on again, and the pain was so great he couldn’t focus. Without focus a mage was nothing; there had to be some amount of concentration for magic to work.

                Suddenly the pain stopped.

                Tommy opened his eyes. Jay was standing in the middle of the room, blaster drawn on Mesegog. Elsa and Zeltrax were nowhere to be seen.

                His team was…here.

                “Okay, Mesegog. Back away from him.” Jay said calmly, like this dimension wasn’t ripping him apart—

                It wasn’t. Suddenly Tommy was sure of that. They had done something, were doing something—

                He didn’t get to complete the thought. Mesegog lurched for the invisiportal network.

                Something teleported Tommy.

                He reached out and grabbed the Dino Gem.

                The casing shattered—

                Then there was nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT I LIVE!
> 
> Anyway, some notes:
> 
> Last chapter we saw Tommy accidentally touch the Black Dino Gem, which merged Jay's dimension with 616. They are now all scrambling to figure out wtf to do about it. I just realized that may not have been clear enough for everyone, so here you go.

_ M616/623--August 23 _

 

Trent opened his eyes.

 

He’d been...somewhere else. There had been the strangest sense, as if he’d been deep in a bright void, watching as two bubbles, crystalline and displaying endless void pinpricked with galaxies, had swirled together…

 

It was the dead of night now. And he was wide awake.

 

He got up from his desk, feeling...strange. Light, like he wasn’t entirely sure that he was  _ real _ anymore. He walked out of his room, down the stairs.

 

He went into the kitchen. He was hungry. There wasn’t much food, again--his dad kept forgetting to go shopping, and Trent wasn’t sure how to tell him to just leave some money and a list so Trent could do it for him. But there was a can of soup in the pantry. Trent dumped it into a pot and started heating it.

 

His dad walked into the kitchen. Trent turned, intending to see why his father was up so late.

 

What stood in front of him was not his father.

 

It was...green, Trent could tell that much, and clawed, and fanged, and whatever the hell it was meant to look like it wasn’t succeeding. The thing grinned at him. “Aaaah.” It hissed. “Anton Mercer’s son. How...delightful.”

 

Trent had been in foster care long enough to pick up a few survival skills. He didn’t entirely realize what he was doing, but he grabbed the pot he’d been cooking with and swung it with all his strength at the thing’s skull.

 

The pot crumpled, hot liquid spilling everywhere, and the thing barely seemed to notice.

 

Still, it was enough of a distraction for Trent to charge past it and run.

 

Trent didn’t bother with shoes. Better to run barefoot and get out now. He ran down his driveway, wincing as the pavement hit his bare feet.

 

He ran smack into someone, and caught them before they could fall. It was Kira.

 

“Come on!” Trent said, because he didn’t know how to say anything else, and took her hand, and ran.

 

Kira kept up with him easily, and as they ran down the street Trent almost thought he’d gotten away, but then some kind of rip in the sky opened and Tengas fell through, Trent had seen them in footage of Angel Grove attacks, and then Kira--

 

Morphed.

 

“Stay back!” Kira said behind the helmet. Trent stood still, obediently, surprised, and Kira charged forward. She started fighting, but she was outnumbered, Trent could see that much, and he ran forward, burying his fist into the nearest one’s stomach. He doubted he could do much, but he could buy her some time--Rangers never fought alone--

 

_ Oh yes,  _ you’ll _ do _ , a voice said from somewhere, and a milky-white stone fell into Trent’s hands.

 

For an instant he didn’t understand, but then desire ripped through him and just as simply, the Tyrannodrones were hit with a strange  _ warping _ , and just…

 

Fell into sand.

 

Trent blinked and stared at the stone.

 

It whispered, gently, a promise of more, of  _ potential _ , then fell silent.

 

“Uh. What the fuck?” Trent asked eloquently, noticing Kira behind him.

 

“We’re gonna get some help now.” Kira said firmly. “C’mon.”

 

She teleported them away.

 

#

 

_ M616/623--August 24 _

 

Tommy felt like he’d been putting out fires all night.

 

He was on the diplomatic rounds along with Jay, trying to explain why, suddenly, everyone--otherwise seeming entirely normal--had either a strong compulsion to lead or follow others. Hayley had offered some technobabble bullshit, but enough world leaders were listening to scientific minds to know it was bullshit.

 

The Dinolair’s top entrance opened, and Kira and someone else came tumbling downstairs.

 

“Excuse me a minute, Prime Minister,” Tommy said, cutting off the connection before the translator could even open his mouth. Tommy turned. Conner and Ethan were sleeping upstairs, both of them having gotten in pitched fights with their parents already--Kira was the last to check in.

 

And she’d brought Trent.

 

Who was clutching what looked an awful lot like a Dino Gem.

 

The wheels started turning in Tommy’s head.

 

“Dr. O--” Kira started.

 

Tommy held up a hand. “Trent. Are you able to manipulate reality?” He asked. Because he’d thought the Machine Empire was making an intrusion into Jay’s dimension, but if the problem had been  _ an untrained teenager here _ …

 

“Uh? I turned a bunch of Tengas into sand?” Trent offered carefully. He held out the Dino Gem. “Is this yours? It likes you.”

 

Tommy eyed the Dino Gem with distinct wariness. “That’s because someone’s been experimenting on it to try to warp whoever’s holding it.” He stood and went for a lead-lined box. “Put that in here and leave it alone. I’ll try to undo that later.”

 

A glimmer of rage flashed across Trent’s face, but he dropped the g em obediently in the box a moment later. Tommy took it away and magicked it up to a nice, high shelf. That would keep Trent out of trouble for a few minutes.

 

“Okay. Tell me what happened.”

 

Trent and Kira glanced at each other, then Trent said, “Uh, there was a freaky lizard-thing in my kitchen? It said I was dad’s kid and then I whacked it with a pot of soup. And then I ran. And then Kira found me, and she morphed, and tried to fight about twelve Tengas, so I went to help her, then the rock showed up in my hand, and then I...think I turned the Tengas to dust. And then we came here.”

 

Tommy nodded. “Got it. Good job, both of you. Kira, anything Trent didn’t mention?”

 

Kira shrugged. “Add my parents to the sudden-rageazoid list, but beyond that, nothing.”

 

Tommy nodded again. “Any injuries?”

 

They both shook their head.

 

Tommy sat down. “Okay. Kira, your parents are not the only people. Apparently almost everyone on the planet is having either sudden bouts of rage or passivity, and it fades in a few hours. Trent, that lizard person is called Mesegog. The Tengas are actually Tyrannodrones, Mesegog’s pet forces. And that’s the White Dinogem. It’s a...kind of a magic rock that chooses Power Rangers.”

 

Trent digested this, while Kira went over to glare up at the lead-lined box. “So I’m gonna be a Power Ranger?” Trent finally asked.

 

“Yep.” Tommy confirmed.

 

“Whoa.” Trent said, and he looked...strange, for a moment, like he was contemplating something he shouldn’t be.

 

Tommy, having a fair idea of what  _ kind _ of experiments Mesegog and Company would run on, grabbed a scanner. “For the moment, let me take a few scans of you, because that gem was doing something funny to your energy signature, and I do not want you turning on us.”

 

Trent glared, suddenly hostile. “What, so you can turn my brain into a lab rat? You helped build these things, didn’t you? That’s how you know so much about them!”

 

Tommy blinked. What in the unholy fuck? “Uh. Trent, are you feeling okay?”

 

Trent blinked, and the moment passed. “Uh. I dunno, I just...I mean, you’re not working for the government or something, right? And there aren’t any more lizard people?”

 

Tommy had a sudden sinking feeling. “No, and no. Hold still a minute.” He waved the scanner over Trent’s head, then turned to the computer readout.

 

Tommy was not much of a neurologist. He preferred paleontology; the odd bit of Playing With Genetics To Further Mankind had been fun, too (until Mesegog had shown up). But that was probably  _ not _ how a normal brain looked. He read over the scanner’s results. Bipolar mania. He had  _ not _ known Trent had bipolar. The chemicals listed to treat it looked...like a lot of nonsense, honestly, Tommy had never been a chemist.

 

“Okay.” Tommy announced. “Trent, I’m just gonna be a bit rude here, but do you have bipolar? Because the gem is giving you mania. That’s why you’re suddenly paranoid.” And medication would explain why Trent’s mood hadn’t swung, Tommy realized; everyone not affiliated with the Power had gone through that mood swing, but Trent hadn’t been until afterwards.

 

“Uh. No?” Trent said.

 

...Well, shit. “Okay.” Tommy said, reaching for his morpher. “I’m going to call Trini. She’s our team medic, and she’ll know how to deal with this.”

 

Trent looked shifty suddenly. “‘Deal with it’?” He asked.

 

“Get you a mood stabilizer, dumbass.” Kira said, heading over to Trent. “Calm down. They’re good people. I wouldn’t have brought you here if--”

 

“You’re their friend. Of course they’re good people to  _ you _ .” Trent interrupted quietly, suddenly angry again.

 

“Trent, no one’s going to hurt you.” Tommy interrupted, trying to be soothing.

 

Jay chose that minute to emerge from the bathroom, glancing around. “What’s going on?” Jay asked. “This one of your students, Tom?”

 

Something snapped in Trent’s brain. He charged Jay, promptly getting hauled up and around by Jay, who, while not exactly prepared for Attack of the Manic Teenager, was quick-reflexed enough to stop him from doing any damage. “Uh. Kid. What the fuck?” Jay asked.

 

Trent’s eyes glowed white, and he vanished.

 

Tommy felt yet another horrible suspicion sink over him. He walked over to where the Dino Gem had been hidden.

 

It was gone.

 

“Hey, uh, Jay?” Tommy said carefully.

 

“Find the kid?”

 

Tommy tilted the empty box in his direction.

 

Jay sighed. “Okay. Find the kid.”


End file.
